Joe Madiath

Joe Madiath (born 3 December 1950) is an Indian social entrepreneur. He is the founder and former executive director of Gram Vikas,[1] a non-governmental organisation based in Orissa, India. Gram Vikas uses common concerns for water and sanitation to unite and empower rural communities, including adivasi communities.

Joe Madiath
Madiath at the Skoll World Forum in 2011
Born
Joseph Madiath

(1950-12-03) 3 December 1950
Cheruvally, Kerala, India
NationalityIndian
Occupationsocial entrepreneur & founder of Gram Vikas
WebsiteGramVikas.org GVRS.org

Childhood and career

Joe Madiath's social activism began at the age of 12, when he helped organise young workers employed by his own father, helping them to fight for better work conditions. As a result, his father sent him away to a boarding school in Kerala.[2] Years later, his father finally accepted his son's views and became supportive of his work as a social entrepreneur.[3]

Madiath studied English literature at the University of Madras, where he was elected the President of the Students' Union of Loyola College, Chennai. There, he founded the Young Students' Movement for Development (YSMD). During this time, he also cycled solo across India, gaining insight into the plight of the poor.

In 1971, Madiath led 400 YSMD volunteers to West Bengal to manage relief camps for refugees from the Bangladesh Liberation War. Witnessing the devastation of the 1971 Orissa cyclone, and realising the comparatively little attention received by the disaster victims, Madiath and a small group of volunteers shifted their attention there. Once their relief efforts were completed, Madiath and a few colleagues from the YSMD decided to stay in Orissa to work as development activists. On invitation from the district authorities, they moved to Ganjam district in 1976 to begin work with adivasi communities. Madiath founded Gram Vikas in 1979.

Work with Gram Vikas

Since 1979, with Joe Madiath serving as Executive Director, Gram Vikas has worked mostly with adivasi communities in rural Orissa on a number of development projects, including biogas promotion, community forestry, rural habitat development, and education.[4] The bulk of Gram Vikas' efforts have been on water and sanitation solutions for the rural poor of Orissa.

Gram Vikas uses the "universally important needs of drinking water and sanitation" to bring villagers together and realise how collective action can lead to gains for the community. The fundamentals of Gram Vikas' approach are 100% participation from all villagers, with "clearly defined stakes and mechanisms for institutional and financial sustainability."[5]

Work on Water & Sanitation

Joe focused on water and sanitation as the entry point in the village development work, partnering with village communities to regenerate thousands of hectares of "wasteland,”eliminating open defecation, significantly reducing waterborne disease incidences, building disaster-proof houses, enabling thousands of women to lead village institutions, educate hundreds of girls, and more. By 2018, Gram Vikas has reached 83,000 households with water and sanitation services mainly in Orissa, but also in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Andhra Pradesh[6]

Work on Education
Joe Madiath interacting with students of his school

Joe Madiath has also founded four tribal residential schools collectively called Gram Vikas Residential School serving the kids of tribal community in remote villages in Ganjam,Gajapati and Kalahandi districts of Odisha.The school caters over 1200 tribal kids and has an active sports program,science and innovation program,arts and design program and also a government funded Atal Tinkering Lab.[7]

Double Connection with Nobel Prize 2019 and Future Plans

Joe Madiath and Gram Vikas have been mentioned in the book Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, two of the 2019 Nobel laureates in Economics.They quote him to be a man with a self-deprecating sense of humor who attends the annual meeting of the world's rich and powerful at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in outfits made from homespun cotton.[8]

Gram Vikas has extended its work in other areas such as infrastructure, housing and now energy conservation. And that brings us to its second link with the Nobel Prize in chemistry this year, won by John B. Goodenough (The University of Texas at Austin, USA), M. Stanley Whittingham (Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA) and Akira Yoshino (Asahi Kasei Corporation, Tokyo, Japan and Meijo University, Nagoya, Japan) for developing the Lithium-ion battery.

It is this technology that Madiath is using to implement a massive electrification programme in nine locations throughout the Kalahandi district of Odisha. His team is currently hard at work in the Maligaon village, where a solar micro-grid was set up in 2009, but stopped working within a few years.[9]

Madiath, who has been in touch with the scientists who won this year's Nobel in Chemistry, is on his way to yet another historical first in the country: preserving electricity in a solar grid with lithium-ion batteries.[10]

Awards
Joe Madiath felicitated on his 70th birthday

Personal recognition

Awarded to Gram Vikas

In the News
  • Joe Madiath giving TED Talk[20]
    Joe Madiath giving TED Talk
  • Article published on Joe's connection with Nobel Prize[21]
  • Story on Youth Ki Awaaz-Joe Madiath: A Social Entrepreneur Who Has Changed The Face Of Villages In Odisha[22]
  • Article published on Joe Madiath in World Economic Forum[23]
gollark: I mean, the problem is that it would probably have to be a *valid* MBR.
gollark: So maybe you could put the image header there and have a giant custom image block?
gollark: Er, first block.
gollark: Looks like with GPT the first sector is used as a protective MBR or something.
gollark: I think so.

See also

Gram Vikas

Gram Vikas Residential School

References
  1. Duflo, Esther; Banerjee, Abhijit (12 January 2012). Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. PublicAffairs. pp. 46–. ISBN 978-1-58648-798-0. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  2. Pradeep, K. (14 February 2010). "In Pursuit of Social Justice". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  3. "Profile: Joseph Madiath". Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  4. "Bringing Water Supply and Sanitation Services to Tribal Villages in Orissa the Gram Vikas Way". Country Water Action: India. Asian Development Bank. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  5. Madiath, Joe; R.V. Jayapadma (2005). "Learning by Doing – Sowing the Seeds of Local Governance". IRMA Symposium on "Decentralization and Local Governance".
  6. "Why Are Nobel Laureates Raising a Toast to This Man?".
  7. "Home".
  8. "Why Are Nobel Laureates Raising a Toast to This Man?".
  9. "Why Are Nobel Laureates Raising a Toast to This Man?".
  10. Madiath, who has been in touch with the scientists who won this year’s Nobel in Chemistry, is on his way to yet another historical first in the country: preserving electricity in a solar grid with lithium-ion batteries.
  11. Dueñas, Ma. Christina. "Water Champion: Joe Madiath – Championing 100% Sanitation Coverage in Rural Communities in India". Asian Development Bank. Archived from the original on 28 May 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  12. "Profile: Joseph Madiath". Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  13. Parichay Foundation, Shrie Awards. "Social Worker: Joe Madiath – Life Time Achievement Award for Social Work-". Odisha Live. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  14. Sweeney, Tracie (5 April 1996). "India's Gram Vikas to receive Alan Shawn Feinstein World Hunger Award". The Brown University News Bureau. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  15. "2001 Global Development Awards and Medals Competition". Global Development Network. Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  16. "Winner (2003) – Rural Health and Environment Programme". World Habitat Awards. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  17. "The Tech Awards Laureates 2003". The Tech Awards. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  18. "Announcement of the winner of the Kyoto World Water Grand Prize" (PDF). World Water Council. Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  19. "Social Entrepreneurs: Joe Madiath". Retrieved 12 January 2012.
  20. "Joe Madiath".
  21. "Why Are Nobel Laureates Raising a Toast to This Man?".
  22. "Joe Madiath: A Social Entrepreneur Who Has Changed the Face of Villages in Odisha". 14 April 2020.
  23. "Joseph Madiath".
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